A Second Chance
by Lea Rush
Summary: Jack Bauer finally gets a break. This is my first, hope you like. Friendly advice appreciated.
p style="text-align: center;" Alone. That's how he felt. He now had a place to live and a job, but still he felt so alone./p
p style="text-align: center;"After he left the United States about a month and a half ago, he had run off to a remote location on the east coast of Australia./p  
p style="text-align: center;"Here, noone knew of Jack Bauer. Noone knew what he looked like or what he had done. Here he could be free./p  
p style="text-align: center;"He was unpacking the few things he had in his new home, thinking about Kim and her family./p  
p style="text-align: center;"His granddaughter, Terri./p  
p style="text-align: center;"Oh how he missed them. He could never see them again, not without putting them in danger./p  
p style="text-align: center;"Stupid terrorists./p  
p style="text-align: center;" /p  
p style="text-align: center;"A knock on his back door shook him out of his reverie./p  
p style="text-align: center;""Hello?" A voice called/p  
p style="text-align: center;"A female voice, with an American accent./p  
p style="text-align: center;""Is anyone here?"/p  
p style="text-align: center;"He walked out to living room where he could see the back door./p  
p style="text-align: center;"He had left it open to enjoy the cool, 7 degree weather./p  
p style="text-align: center;"And now there was a woman of about 23 years standing just inside the doorway, admiring a photo of Jack and his family./p  
p style="text-align: center;" /p  
p style="text-align: center;""Yes" He said, startling his impromptu visitor./p  
p style="text-align: center;"The young lady was dressed in running shoes, jogging shorts and a tank top./p  
p style="text-align: center;"She jumped, clearly surprised by his sudden appearance./p  
p style="text-align: center;""Can I help you?"/p  
p style="text-align: center;" /p  
p style="text-align: center;""Oh. Hi. Are you the one one moving in here?" She asked, her fingers pointing to the ground, indicating the house/p  
p style="text-align: center;""Yeah..." He gave her a questioning look./p  
p style="text-align: center;" /p  
p style="text-align: center;""Oh, cool. My name's Joy Hastings. I live next door. On the other side of that wall." She said holding out her hand, with a friendly smile on her face./p  
p style="text-align: center;" /p  
p style="text-align: center;"He stared at her for a moment before taking her hand. "David O'Conner."/p  
p style="text-align: center;"She smiled "It's nice to meet you, David."/p  
p style="text-align: center;"She let go of his hand and looked around her at the few boxes that were stacked around the mid-sized ground floor apartment./p  
p style="text-align: center;" /p  
p style="text-align: center;""So..." she sighed. "Is there anything I can help you with, Or are you OK on your own?"/p  
p style="text-align: center;" /p  
p style="text-align: center;"David was surprised. He hadn't expected this kind of friendly behavior from anyone, much less a stranger./p  
p style="text-align: center;"Even his co-workers hadn't been this welcoming when he first got his job 3 weeks ago.../p  
p style="text-align: center;"Heck, some of them still weren't/p  
p style="text-align: center;" /p  
p style="text-align: center;""Uh, no. No I'm fine. Thanks" He offered what smile he could./p  
p style="text-align: center;" /p  
p style="text-align: center;"Joy didn't seem fazed at all. "Alright. Well, if you do need anything, I'm just next door. Feel free to come over anytime."/p  
p style="text-align: center;"He nodded and muttered a 'K thanks', still somewhat put off by the kind gesture./p  
p style="text-align: center;"She returned the nod and spun around towards the door./p  
p style="text-align: center;" /p  
p style="text-align: center;"She took three or four steps before she turned back around to face him./p  
p style="text-align: center;""Oh. Before I forget. Uh, The fan in the bathroom..." She pointed in direction of bathroom./p  
p style="text-align: center;" /p  
p style="text-align: center;"He guessed her place next door had to be a mirror image of his for her to know right where the bathroom was./p  
p style="text-align: center;"That was usually the case with apartment buildings, even small ones like this./p  
p style="text-align: center;"The building was not large, 1200 square feet with just two units, one for him, one for his neighbor./p  
p style="text-align: center;" /p  
p style="text-align: center;""If you ever start to hear noises coming from there, all you gotta do is just tighten the screws and give it a good whack./p  
p style="text-align: center;"Sometime the fan blades'll come loose... or a rodent or some small bird'll get stuck in there..."/p  
p style="text-align: center;"She nodded thoughtfully as she took a breath, hands on her hips./p  
p style="text-align: center;""It's happened to me a couple times."/p  
p style="text-align: center;" /p  
p style="text-align: center;"David looked from her to the bathroom and back to her. "Oh... well Thanks for the warning."/p  
p style="text-align: center;" /p  
p style="text-align: center;"She smiled at him again. "No problem. Have a nice day." And with that she turned on her heel and walked out the door into the pleasant evening air./p  
p style="text-align: center;" /p  
p style="text-align: center;"He stared after her marveling at the fact that she had had the guts to walk into the house of a total stranger and offer her help./p  
p style="text-align: center;"He had never seen anyone smile that much. Not after his wife died. Except little Terri, of course./p  
p style="text-align: center;" /p  
p style="text-align: center;"Walking back towards the kitchen to finish unpacking his dishes. Paper plates and plasticware. He wondered if she meant what she said about her helping him if he asked for it.../p  
p style="text-align: center;"One thing was for sure. The sense of loneliness had disappeared. For the first time in a month, he felt like had a friend./p  
p style="text-align: center;"At the very least, a friendly acquaintance./p  
p style="text-align: center;" /p  
p style="text-align: center;" /p 


End file.
